1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to medical equipment, and more particularly to apparatus for securely holding the sheath or protective cap of a hypodermic syringe needle, catheter needle, or the like, during removal of the needle from the sheath and replacement of the needle into the sheath. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to a device which permits an operator to unsheath and resheath a medical needle with the use of only one hand.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, a number of devices have been introduced for the handling of hypodermic syringe needles, catheter needles, or the like, for the purposes of safety and/or prevention of the spread of disease.
The simplest class of such devices is represented in several forms in U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,910 to Staebler, U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,386 to Simmons and U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,652 to Vernon. Each of these documents describe, in various degrees of complexity, hand-held medical needle sheath removal and holder devices which require an operator to grasp the device in one hand and then, with the other hand, insert the sheathed needle into the device so that the device may remove and hold the sheath. After use of the syringe, or the like, the operator reinserts the needle into the sheath which is held in the holder device. In order to then remove the sheathed needle from the holder device, the operator must again grasp the holder device with one hand and then grasp and pull the sheathed needle portion of the syringe, or the like, from the holder with the other hand. Such devices, if used properly, will usually prevent accidental pricking by the medical needle and the potential spread of disease associated therewith.
A serious drawback with such devices, however, is that they require two hands in order to properly sheath and unsheath the needle. As can be appreciated, a doctor, nurse, or other medical technician does not always have the luxury of the free use of both hands at such times when a patient must be restrained, such as, for example, when a patient is violently writhing from pain, convulsions, madness, etc. During such instances, it is quite commonly required of the person performing an injection to use one of his or her hands to restrain at least the arm of the patient. Clearly then, during such moments of medical emergency, the person performing the injection cannot exercise the care required to properly operate the aforesaid sheath removal and holder devices. And with such disregard of the proper use or even the complete avoidance of the use of such equipment during these emergencies, the risk of accidental pricking with the needle and the potential spread of disease associated therewith increase dramatically.
Another disadvantage of such prior art devices is that they are unwieldy and impractical at such times when a surgeon, dentist, or the like, performs local anesthetic administration. For example, when the dentist or surgeon is palpating for landmarks, i.e., reference sites such as bones, tissue nodes, bumps, or the like, which are used for precise positioning of the location of the injection, it is essential, especially if the landmarks are difficult to locate, that he maintain his fingers at the desired landmark or landmarks once they have been located. In this way the surgeon or dentist uses the positioning of his fingers as a guide for accurately placing the needle for injection.
However, with the prior art devices, the operator must use both hands to remove the sheath from the needle, thus requiring the operator to remove his fingers from the landmark if the landmark has already been located. If, however, the surgeon or dentist decides to first remove the sheath before palpating for landmarks, he thus leaves the needle exposed for an unduly prolonged length of time which again raises the likelihood of accidental pricking with the needle, particularly if the operator holds the syringe with one hand and palpates with the other.
Another shortcoming of the prior art needle sheath holders is that they are burdensome and may inhibit the rapid sequential administration of a number of injections of various types and quantities of drugs as is commonly performed by an anesthesiologist during a surgical operation. For example, prior to a surgical operation in which a patient is to receive general anesthesia, it is common for an anesthesiologist to prepare a number of syringes containing various concentrations and types of drugs, usually narcotics, for sequential injection into the patient through the use of a catheter. During such a procedure, it is not uncommon for various quantities of drugs from several of the syringes to be administered in relatively rapid sequence. It is also not uncommon for the anesthesiologist to use one or more of the syringes a number of times during the surgical procedure. For purposes of safety, i.e., in order to prevent accidental injection of an anesthetic into either the anesthesiologist or the other members of the surgical team, the needles of the syringes are preferably capped between usages and after their final usages. Bearing this in mind, one will appreciate that the anesthesiologist must spend a significant quantity of time and care in the unsheathing and resheathing of syringes during a surgical operation. If the surgery should become lengthy, the anesthesiologist may become fatigued and possibly neglect recapping of one more of the syringes between usages and after final usage. Along similar lines, if quantities of drugs from several of the syringes must be injected in rapid sequence, the anesthesiologist may neglect capping one syringe before using the next syringe. In either case, one or more of the needles may be left uncapped during the surgical procedure thus increasing the risk of accidental pricking of the medical personnel by the exposed needles.
A further problem exists in such a procedure. As noted previously, surgical operations may sometimes become quite lengthy and the anesthesiologist may accordingly become fatigued. It is particularly at such times when the anesthesiologist is most likely to prick the hand which holds the needle sheath even if the sheath is retained in a sheath holder. To avoid these potential problems, the anesthesiologist must somehow be able to quickly, easily and assuredly unsheath and resheath the syringe needles at a first remote, yet easily reachable location, using only one hand, while keeping the other hand a safe distance therefrom. However, such a procedure is not possible using the sheath holder devices disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,910, U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,386 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,652.
A somewhat more advanced form of medical needle sheath remover and holder device is disclosed in European Patent No. EP 0 296 406 Al. Described therein is a device which permits an individual to: 1) remove sheaths from medical needles, or 2) remove sheathed needles from a syringe, or the like, with the use of only one hand. While this device may represent an improvement over the previously mentioned prior art as far as removing the sheaths is concerned, it fails to provide any means for permitting resheathing of a needle after an injection is completed. If one using such a device desired to resheath the needle, one would first have to physically remove the sheath from the device and then replace the sheath onto the needle by hand, thus again requiring a "two-hand" operation to resheath the needle. Hence, such a device could not be effectively used by an anesthesiologist to uncap and recap needles in rapid succession. Furthermore, such a device would be of limited utility during some instances of medical emergency since, for reasons mentioned hereinabove, the medical personnel may not have the benefit of the free use of the "second hand" to resheath the needle during such times of emergency.
An advantage exists, therefore, for a device which will:
1) permit medical personnel to quickly and positively unsheath and resheath the needles of hypodermic syringes, catheters, etc., using only one hand, and 2) reduce the likelihood of accidental pricking with the needle by allowing an individual to maintain his hands at a safe distance from one another during unsheathing and resheathing of the needle, by permitting an individual to avoid premature unsheathing of the needle, and by permitting an individual to avoid unnecessarily prolonged periods of time in which the needle remains unsheathed.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device for permitting a person to quickly and positively unsheath and resheath the needles of hypodermic syringes, catheters, etc., using only one hand thus permitting unrestricted and free use of the person's other hand before, during, and after an injection into a patient is performed.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a device which reduces the likelihood of accidental pricking by the needle by permitting an operator to avoid both premature unsheathing of the needle and unnecessarily prolonged periods of time in which the needle is unsheathed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device which permits a person to unsheath and resheath a medical needle while keeping his hands a safe distance from one another during the unsheathing and resheathing operation to thus reduce the likelihood of pricking of the person's hand not carrying the needle.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a device for securely holding and positioning a sheath during and after such time that a medical needle is removed therefrom as well as when the needle is reinserted thereinto.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device which will permit a series of needles to be unsheathed and resheathed in rapid succession.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a medical needle sheath holder apparatus which is of a rugged, yet uncomplicated and inexpensive construction.
Still other objects and advantages will become apparent when one considers the attached drawings and written description of the invention provided hereinbelow.